The present invention relates to a point to multipoint messaging system preferably utilizing the FM 57 khz Radio Broadcast Data System (RBDS) standard and a novel receiver. In general terms, the present invention utilizes a single source to send messages from multiple senders to a plurality of receivers who may select to receive or not receive that particular sender""s message.
Ever since man has congregated in groups, certain individuals have banded together for one reason or another. Today individuals are often participants in numerous groups.
Such groups include a single community, such as a town. Another group could be the members of a particular church. Another example could be all the employees at a particular business. Another group could be all of the customers of a particular grocery store. Another group could be the parents whose children are all in the same school. On a national political level, there are two rather large groups, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. This is by no means an all inclusive list. Most people are associated with several such groups in their daily course of dealings.
These groups also have leaders and/or members which disseminate information. In the early days of society""s development, disseminators would gather members of the group together to promulgate information. This could occur at a regular interval or in times of specific need. A similar need exists in today""s groups, however, today""s groups are more diverse and dispersed. Disseminators, such as political electees, priests or preachers, store owners, chief executive officers, and even the leadership of the parent teachers association of any given school often find themselves in need of conveying information to members of a particular group. Other people may also require or desire communication with members of specific groups at various times and for many reasons. All of these disseminators need an effective means of scheduling point (disseminator) to multi-point (group) communication.
The current methods of achieving rapid point to multipoint messaging suffers from a variety of shortcomings. For instance, point to multipoint messaging may be achieved utilizing a list serve program over e-mail systems. However, this requires the recipients of messages to have access to their computer to regularly check messages for efficient dissemination of information and each recipient is individually addressed. Most current paging devices simply permit the reception of point to point messaging and are more suitable for private communications. The paging devises that do permit multi point broadcast are not designed to be user programable. Chain telephone calling is slow and labor intensive, while broadcast medias such as radio and television provide no method for recipients to filter unwanted messages.
Many types of paging software are known in the art. One paging system utilizes the computer software Basepage(tm). This off-the-shelf program can be utilized by a paging service to allow a user to input information in a standard protocol known as TAP. The information is sent to a processing station where it is transmitted. A specific pager having a specific pre-programmed CAPCODE receives this information. Some receivers, including pagers, have been developed to search FM frequencies for a particular PI code as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,346,607; 5,345,606 and 5,345,605.
Some paging systems have also been formulated which allow a person having a pager to receive such information as sports scores. These pagers receive this sports information, but the known pagers are not user programmable to select or deselect to receive this information. Instead, the pager is programed by the service provider before being delivered to the user to receive this information. These prior art pagers do not allow the user to choose which information is received once a particular pager is selected, without vendor service. Furthermore, these pagers do not allow the user to choose to select from or deselect other sources to receive information either.
At least one pager company is known to offer a particular pager to be programmed with up to eight CAPCODES. However, this pager must be reprogrammed by the paging company to change any or all of the CAPCODES. These CAPCODES are not user selectable.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,430 discloses a storm alert system for emergencies which utilizes TV frequencies, encrypted information and codes based upon geographic locations. This system requires TV""s which are potentially more expensive than radios and the selection of identification codes is tied to geographic locations instead of people or groups. Furthermore, as a particular TV would be located in a single location, the switch settings would allow a user to program to receive only for a single location.
Accordingly, it is a purpose of the present invention to provide a method of facilitating point to multipoint messaging and a novel receiving device utilized in this system. A need also exists to provide disaster alerts to members of a community, groups or to individuals. Such disaster information may include information on tornados, storms, floods, fires, hazardous material, or power outages and the like. Other information may be particularly important to a given community as well. Information including election day results, deaths in the community or births may be information that a particular community would want rapid information to be distributed about.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a method of advertising.
Another object of the invention is to utilize an existing subcarrier of an FM radio station. As a practical point, many subcarriers, if not the majority of subcarriers, are not utilized. Accordingly, the present invention provides a use for these currently dormant subcarriers.
Another object of the invention is to allow a user to program a receiver to receive messages from any sender. The consumer can select from many senders from which to receive messages. Another object is to allow members of a particular group to receive messages at the same time when the message is sent only once by the sender. This will likely result in a saving of time and money when attempting to quickly and economically communicate with members of a group. A group leader, or disseminator, can send messages instantly and only once knowing that every member of the group has received it.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide for communication to members on a local, statewide and national forum according to the needs of the particular group which seeks to distribute information to its members.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description or accompanying drawings, or may be learned to practice the invention.
The communication method and system utilized herein is a new method of communication. To utilize this method and system, first information is sent from a disseminator to a data receiver. The data receiver may, or may not, convert the format of this information prior to sending the information to a processing station. Information leaving the processing station is converted to an acceptable format to be transmitted to a radio transmitter. A signal generator will likely be required to convert information into an acceptable format for transmission by a radio transmitter. The radio transmitter transmits the information, preferably on a subcarrier of an FM (frequency modulated) radio station. The information is coded with a particular identification code, known as a CAPCODE. This CAPCODE may be attached at any location prior to transmission of the information. The transmission may also be coded with another type or identification code known as a PI code. Furthermore, the transmission may be coded with both a CAPCODE, a PI code and/or any other identification code. A programmable receiver receives the information from the radio transmitter provided that the receiver is programmed to receive that particular identification code, i.e., such as a CAPCODE. This completes the process of getting information from a disseminator to a group member.
One giant difference between this technology and prior paging technology is the ability to allow a consumer to program a receiver to receive messages from a sender. Additionally, the consumer can select multiple senders from which to receive messages. Also, many users can receive a single message sent from one sender at the same time. A person, such as the leader of any group, can send a message once, and know that this message has been sent to every member of the group. In a preferred form, the radio transmitter utilizes an existing FM subcarrier. This will allow for immediate implementation worldwide without further investment and infrastructure. Since many, if not most, subcarriers are not utilized, this communication system is a pioneer development in point to multipoint communication systems.
Additionally, CAPCODES under this system may be assigned to groups as well as individuals. There is no known system in place for multiple users to select a single CAPCODE to receive the same information without vendor service.